Effect of pulse frequency on the surface properties and corrosion resistance of a plasma-nitrided Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Abstract In this work, Ti-6Al-4V alloy, commonly used as implant material in biomedical applications, was treated by plasma nitriding. The nitriding process was carried out using an N₂-H₂ plasma (1000:500 sccm) at an operating pressure of about 866 Pa. The current regulation was about 1.8 A, the negative voltage was about 480–500 V, and the power was 840–940 W. The nitriding temperature was maintained at 650 ± 5 °C, and the nitriding time was 240 min. Bipolar pulse frequencies were varied at 25, 50, 100, 150, and 200 kHz. Analysis by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction spectrometer (GI-XRD) revealed the presence of δ-TiN and ε-Ti₂N phases in all nitrided samples. The hardness depth profile was measured with a penetration depth of about 5 nm using the enhanced stiffness procedure (ESP). The results showed that all the nitrided samples had a surface hardness approximately three times that of the unnitrided sample. This result is consistent with that from glow discharge emission spectroscopy (GD-OES), which confirmed the diffusion distance of nitrogen atoms from the surface of about 5 μm. After plasma nitriding, the surface roughness tended to increase, resulting in an increase in the water contact angle (WCA) and a decrease in the work of adhesion. The specific wear rate (ball-on-disk) of all nitrided samples decreased and was significantly lower at a bipolar pulse frequency of 50 kHz. This result is consistent with the stability of the coefficient of friction (COF) after 6000 sliding cycles. Moreover, the nitrided sample at 50 kHz exhibited the lowest corrosion current density in artificial saliva based on the Tafel potential polarization method.